The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

VATICAN CITY, JUL 4, 2006 (VIS) - This evening in Valencia, Spain, Agustin Garcia-Gasco, archbishop of that city, will inaugurate the International Theological Pastoral Congress on the Family. Cardinals, bishops, theologians, and experts in education, pastoral care of families and the communications media are all due to attend the event, as are various ecclesial movements from some 30 countries.

The congress - which is taking place as part of the Fifth World Meeting of Families and is due to last from July 4 to 7 - will consider various themes associated with the family and reflect upon how best to transmit the faith within families. It will involve talks, reports, testimonies and round table discussions.

Following a contribution from Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, archbishop of Bologna, Italy, on "the family and laicism," the inaugural address will be delivered by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Over the remaining days of the congress - July 5 to 7 - experts will analyze the question of the family in its social, educational, legislative, demographic, economic, juridical and bioethical aspects. Representatives from different Christian confessions, including Orthodox and Evangelical, will also offer reflections on the family from an ecumenical standpoint.

On Friday evening, the International Theological Pastoral Congress will close with a Eucharistic celebration presided by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

Between July 4 and 7 a youth congress is also due to be held, in which young people between the ages of 16 and 25 will participate. Its aim is to analyze the problems facing the young and to offer Christian alternatives to the culture of leisure. Finally, a third congress will also be held over the same period, directed at the elderly and focussing on their irreplaceable role within their families..../CONGRESS FAMILIES/VALENCIA VIS 20060704 (310)

VATICAN CITY, JUL 4, 2006 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has sent a telegram of condolence to Archbishop Agustin Garcia-Gasco of Valencia, Spain, for the death of more than 40 people in an accident on the city's underground railway system at midday yesterday.

"As I learn, with profound regret, the sad news of the accident on the Valencia underground which has filled so many families with grief, I offer up prayers for the eternal repose of the dead and request the Lord to concede consolation and serenity to those weeping the loss of their loved ones. I ask you to transmit my most heartfelt condolences to the relatives of the victims and to express my feelings of paternal spiritual closeness to the many injured; at the same time, I affectionately impart to everyone my consoling apostolic blessing as a sign of faith and hope in the Risen Christ."

The accident took place five days before the Pope's own arrival in Valencia where, on Saturday and Sunday next, he is due to close the Fifth World Meeting of Families, currently being held in that city.TGR/ACCIDENT VALENCIA UNDERGROUND/GARCIA VIS 20060704 (200)